Page 51 of Obsidian and Frost

I went to leave, to tend to Ariana—my mission—but her fingers brushing mine stilled me.

“At least tell me your name,” she beseeched me. “You already have mine.”

I smiled. “Cassius.”

I openedmy eyes and started at what I saw through her dormitory window now.

There she sat up at a desk working on her jewelry-making.

She appeared to be fashioning some sort of bracelet, and I even watched her very carefully call her purple Dark Fae power and summon some forest-green gems.

Hmm.

The green… like the wolf-vampire hybrid.

My chest ached.

A great deal of me ached.

But it was a small price to pay for her liberation, for her to have a chance at her best life. She’d long been denied it and she deserved it so dearly.

I drew in a centering breath, rose to my feet, called my wings, then ascended into the night sky.

I arrived backat my apartment—our apartment, actually—and tucked my wings away, before unsealing the ward protecting the space with a brief call of my power.

I opened the door, stepped inside, then sealed it.

It was actually additionally protected by the magic of Ariana Martel. The way we’d crafted the ward enabled me to pass through despite her much greater power now that I was a Fallen being present. She’d wanted to ensure that myroommatewas safeguarded. But there’d also been a second aspect to it. The supernatural world, especially the Guardian Movement and the Unity Council had needed assurance that there was a barrier strong enough in place should it prove necessary, should my roommate become a threat again.

He wouldn’t be.

He never really had been.

Those who had controlled him had been responsible for the destruction he had wrought. He hadn’t been in control of his own actions. They had violated his free will.

And many other things at that.

Ketheron.

He was a Polygenus Entity, a being made of many different species, abilities, and magic. He’d been experimented on and created through a partnership between Chimera Circle and the Celestial Plane. They’d forged him to become their weapon against Ariana Martel, the only True Celestial—or merely,angel,as they preferred to refer to her here—who hadn’t been bound by the Celestial Plane and had free will. They hadn’t liked that. It had terrified them, in fact. They’d intended him to be used to take her life and then to facilitate a greater foothold for the Celestial Plane. However, one of his makers from Chimera Circle had co-opted that power for himself. Corvin Morvain, maniacal Ancient Vampire-Sorcerer hybrid. He had wanted to take command of the Guardian Movement and the supernatural world as a whole.

Thankfully, he had fallen the very same day that we’d severed the link between this mortal realm and the Celestial Plane.

Ketheron was now free.

But he was damaged, suffering from severe trauma due to being experimented on, then being used, and leashed like a thing and not a person.

He had a child-like understanding of emotional situations, yet he also possessed high-level Celestial and magical knowledge.

It had initially seemed as though it would have served him well to have been under Ariana’s care, because he had imprinted on her.

However, her family hadn’t wanted that for her. She’d already endured a great deal during that tumultuous time. Andshe was building a life now with her three loves. Moreover, Ketheron’simprintingcould easily cross into obsessive territory and actually lead to a regression.

Besides, the three of us worked together at Haven Initiative and saw each other most days anyway, so he was never out of contact with her for long. When I’d ventured unto the Celestial Plane to enact my part of the Severance spell, I’d discovered those deplorable fools had been keeping dozens of children in suspended animation—they’d intended to create an army that would follow their intentions for the mortal realm with Ketheron. But the children had possessed free will, so the True Celestials had considered them failed experiments and just… left them. I’d liberated them all with Ketheron’s assistance and now we cared for them and helped to rehabilitate them via our work at Haven Initiative.

I hung my black coat on one of the hooks by the door, then took off my boots and slid them into a pair of charcoal slippers from the shoe rack.

I made my way into the space.